Posted: November 21st, 2022

Present and briefly discuss a high-level life cycle assessment (LCA)

Instructions

Instruction: Present and briefly discuss a high-level life cycle assessment (LCA) matrix for a Huawei product of your choice. Your analysis should consider impacts in a minimum of six environmental and/or social impact categories of your choice, across at least five stages of the product life cycle. The six impact categories must include at least two environmental and two social categories. 

Improvement : 1. Present a matrix (which is missing). 2. Review and improve the current text and arguments 3. Add the missing impact categories and improve the arguments for the ones available.
(Golsteijn, 2022) defines LCA as an assessment of a product’s environmental impact over its life cycle. The findings can be utilized to inform future product development, marketing, and strategic planning decisions. The life cycle analysis is divided into five sections:

(ADMIN, 2017)
Huawei P30 PRO is the Huawei product we chose to study. P30 PRO, introduced in 2019, was the last handset with Google services before the brand embargo (Parker, 2019), and it was Huawei’s last successful mobile device created and manufactured. According to Cook (2018), Huawei’s bestselling product was the P series smartphones, which brought them 11% of the market share, placing them exactly behind Samsung and iPhone.

The LCA for the Huawei P30 PRO smartphone is as follows:

(2019, Product Environmental Information)
Huawei’s P series phones competed with the iPhone, and the difference in gas emissions for both is comparable. The iPhone X, which was released in 2017, created 79 kilograms of CO2, while the P30 Pro produced only 1.6 kilograms more.

Gotttsegen (2017)
Raw Material Extraction
The majority of raw materials extracted for Huawei and other consumer electronics are minerals and rare earth metals (REM). REMs can be found in large quantities in China and Mongolia, where the majority of Huawei’s suppliers are located. China, which “produces more than 90% of the world’s rare-earth material supply,” has usually inadequate environmental regulations and enforcement (Greene, 2012).
Design and manufacturing
According to Huawei, the suppliers of materials and components for the smartphone are assessed for sustainability hazards. Only 53 out of 938 suppliers were audited on-site in 2016 (Balch, 2018), and only 300 out of 1600 will be audited in 2021. (Huawei Annual Report 2021, 2021).
Huawei was proud of their product development at the time. 60% of the 194 thousand employees had a master’s degree, and 49% worked in R&D. (Yie Choo, 2021). Because Huawei is a Chinese company with a low-cost workforce, it was able to offer revolutionary technologies at a competitive cheap price and therefore expand their market.
Distribution and packaging
Apple reached 100% renewable energy from operations in 2018 and has committed its suppliers to doing the same by 2020. (Environmental Responsibility Report, 2018). In compared to their opponent, Huawei had to catch up and announced a strategy to minimize carbon emissions in 2020. The objective is to create 50% renewable energy by 2030 and 86% by 2050, with 50% electric vehicles by 2030. (Jianfeng, 2021). The organization was far behind competitors in the sustainability approach at the time of P30 PRO introduction.
Use
In terms of the environment, client use accounts for only 3% of total emission factor. However, from a social aspect, the use of such technology offers various educational opportunities. In 2019, 1,130 students from 111 countries and regions visited and studied at Huawei’s headquarters as part of the Seeds for the Future program. Huawei provides the ICT skills and experience gained through its global business activities through this program, and it supports students in broadening their horizons and learning more ICT expertise.
The end of life
The smartphone’s life cycle was scheduled for two years, however at the conclusion of its life, Huawei battled with disposal and recycling. In terms of recycling and disposal, Huawei lagged well behind its competitors. According to the Huawei blog (Risso, 2019, p. 3), the top three recycled materials were as follows:
1. Electronics (42 tons, or 5% of all recyclables)
2. Cables (37 tons, or 4% of total)
3. Batteries made of lead (37 tons, or 4%).
Prior to the United States’ sanctions against Huawei, the organization was primarily concerned with social rather than environmental issues. According to the Huawei Sustainability report from 2016, Huawei sponsored 70 developing nations in which they operated, with a primary focus on education (Huawei Connecting the Future, 2016). Following many investigations dating back to 2012, Huawei was charged in 2019 with 13 offenses, one of which was information theft and spying for the Chinese government (Hindy, 2019). Huawei’s social relationship suffered as a result of this.

References
ADMIN (2017), Millars Global Assessment, 20 July, ‘What is Life Cycle Assessment?’ Millars Global Assessment, http://millarsglobalassessment.co.uk/lca-blog/what-is-life-cycle-assessment/ (Accessed: October 18, 2022) .
O. Balch (2018) Global ambitions: Huawei’s vision to connect the world – and compete with Apple | Reuters Events | Business Sustainability Retrieved from https://www.reutersevents.com/sustainability/global-goals-huaweis-strategy-connect-world-and-take-apple (Accessed: October 17, 2022) .
E. Cheng (2022) Huawei’s first-quarter revenue falls by roughly 14% as smartphone sales fall. CNBC. Available at https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/28/huaweis-first-quarter-revenue-falls-as-smartphone-sales-fall.html. (Accessed: October 17, 2022) .
G. Cook (2018), Can Huawei Enter the US Market Without Environmental Certification? Brands that are long-lasting. Available at: https://sustainablebrands.com/read/cleantech/can-huawei-crack-the-us-market-while-lacking-environmental-credentials (Accessed on October 17, 2022).
Report on Environmental Responsibility (2018). Accessible at https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/Apple Environmental Responsibility Report 2018.pdf. (Accessed: October 20, 2022) .
G. Gottsegen (2017) Great. The iPhone X will not (completely) ruin the environment. CNET. Accessible at: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/apple-iphone-x-environmental-report/ (Accessed: October 20, 2022).
J. Hindy. The Huawei Controversy Timeline: Everything You Need to Know!
, Android Expertise. Available at: https://www.androidauthority.com/huawei-vs-us-990007/ (Accessed on October 17, 2022).
2021 Annual Report from Huawei (2021). Page 192 of Huawei. Accessible at https://www-file.huawei.com/minisite/media/annual report/annual report 2021 en.pdf?version=0401 (Accessed: October 17, 2021) .
Huawei, the Future Connector (2016). Report on Sustainability. p. 102, Huawei Located at: https://www-file.huawei.com/-/media/CORPORATE/PDF/Sustainability/2016-Huawei-sustainability-report-en-v2.pdf?la=en (Accessed on October 17, 2022).
Y. Jianfeng, Towards Zero Carbon with Energy Digitalization, huawei, 2021. Website: https://www.huawei.com/en/technology-insights/publications/winwin/40/zero-carbon-energy-digitalization (Accessed: October 20, 2022).
M. Parker (2019), Trusted Reviews, Huawei P30 Pro. Available from https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/huawei-p30-pro (Accessed on October 18, 2022).
Environmental Data for the Product (2019). p. English, Huawei File:/C:/Users/konra/Downloads/HW-PEI P30%20Pro.pdf is available. (Accessed: October 17, 2022) .
H.B. Risso (2019) The 3 Rs: How We Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse, BLOG OF HUAWEI Available at: https://blog.huawei.com/2019/07/02/3rs-how-we-reduce-recycle-and-reuse/ (Accessed: October 20, 2022) .
Yie Choo, E. (2021). Huawei Case Study: Strategic and Environmental Analysis. Accessible at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354112605 A Case Study of Huawei Strategic and Environmental Analysis

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